Gaddafi must tread delicately at UN says U.S.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Washington's U.N. ambassador warned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Wednesday against aggravating raw U.S. emotions over the Lockerbie bombing when he visits the United Nations this month.

Libyan official Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, jailed in Scotland for the 1988 bombing of an airliner over the town of Lockerbie, was sent home last month due to terminal cancer. His release and a welcome he received on returning to Libya caused anger in the United States, home to two thirds of the 270 victims.

"This is a very raw and sensitive subject for all Americans, having lost ... our compatriots in a terrorist act," Ambassador Susan Rice told a news conference on U.N. business in September, when the United States chairs the Security Council.

"How President Gaddafi chooses to comport himself when he attends the General Assembly and the Security Council in New York has the potential either to aggravate those feelings and emotions or not."

Gaddafi is scheduled to visit the General Assembly for the first time in his 40 years as ruler of Libya. He will address the annual gathering of world leaders on September 23, directly after U.S. President Barack Obama.

His expected presence has already caused anger. The U.S. government has blocked a plan for him to stay at a Libyan-owned property in Englewood, New Jersey, following local protests.

Rice declined to discuss if restrictions had been placed on Gaddafi's movements in the United States, but said, "It's my understanding from Libyan counterparts that their intention is to confine their program to New York City."

"OUT OF ORDER"

Following a diplomatic chill of many years, the United States restored full relations with Libya in 2006, responding to Gaddafi's December 2003 announcement that he would scrap Libya's nuclear, chemical and biological arms programs.

The United States is required by a 1947 treaty with the United Nations to allow foreign leaders to attend U.N. proceedings in New York.

Apart from his General Assembly speech, Gaddafi is also expected to speak at a Security Council meeting the following day that Obama will chair -- the first U.S. president ever to do so. Libya currently has a seat on the council.

Asked if Gaddafi might use the occasion to make a speech that went beyond the official theme of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, Rice said it would be "out of order and inappropriate."

Arab officials seldom let a U.N. meeting on nuclear issues pass without raising Israel's alleged possession of nuclear weapons. Israel has never confirmed possessing them but is widely assumed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power.

Rice said most of the 15 countries on the Security Council has promised that their leaders would speak for no more than five minutes, "and we expect no less from President Gaddafi, should he come."

Speakers often ignore time limits in both the Security Council and the General Assembly.

Rice also confirmed that Obama would speak at a climate change summit at the United Nations on September 22, his first U.N. appearance since taking office in January.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)